1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods, systems and apparatus for managing digital communication systems. More specifically, this invention relates to managing a DSL system or the like, especially distributed and/or bonded vectored DSL systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies provide potentially large bandwidth for digital communication over existing telephone subscriber lines (referred to as loops and/or the copper plant). Telephone subscriber lines can provide this bandwidth despite their original design for only voice-band analog communication. In particular, asymmetric DSL (ADSL) and very-high-speed DSL (VDSL) can adjust to the characteristics of the subscriber line by using a discrete multitone (DMT) line code that assigns a number of bits to each tone (or sub-carrier), which can be adjusted to channel conditions as determined during training and initialization of the modems (typically transceivers that function as both transmitters and receivers) at each end of the subscriber line. DSL systems can use vectoring technologies, where joint transmitter and/or joint receiver signal processing can be performed among multiple pairs to mitigate the effects of crosstalk interference, and thus to improve performance. DSL vectoring technologies typically have significantly higher complexity compared to non-vectored DSL technologies.
Systems, methods and techniques that improve operation in communication systems such as vectored DSL systems would represent a significant advancement in the art. In particular, systems, methods and techniques to reduce computational complexity, to meet quality of service requirements and to reduce operational expenses would represent a significant advancement in the art. Furthermore, improving the level and types of data available and controllable in such communication systems to achieve the afore-mentioned objectives would represent a considerable advancement in the field.